Anna Wood, a 30-year engineer and longtime computer-aided design (CAD) veteran, admits she'd be lost without her iPad in her personal life, calling the tablet her go-to tool for everything from reading books and newspapers to participating in social media forums like Twitter and Facebook.
Yet when it comes to her day job, a design engineer at Auer Precision, Wood's iPad doesn't get quite the same workout. "I've not really integrated it in my work life yet," she says. "The big thing is I sit at my computer all day long. If I were more mobile around the shop, I might be more apt to use my iPad or iPhone, but I don't really have the need for mobility. I have a super-duper workstation at which I sit at all day doing CAD design."
TurboViewer leverages the iPad's multitouch navigation for panning, zooming, and orbiting functions.
Wood is hardly alone among engineers. Though consumers seem to have a near insatiable appetite for mobile apps, engineers -- particularly those doing heavy-duty CAD work -- appear to be a bit more discriminating, still somewhat skeptical that their day-to-day design tools can translate well to a tablet or smartphone platform.
Some, like Wood, who works for a custom manufacturer doing a lot of precision design work around metal and plastic stamping, are too tied to their desktop horsepower and traditional CAD software to derive any sort of real benefit from the mobility equation. Others question whether tablets and mobile devices have sufficient screen size, processing power, and graphics rendering muscle to handle the demands of doing precision 3D modeling. Finally, there is still a sizable contingent of engineers who are just slow to embrace new technology as part of their work routines and thus don't yet see the promise or potential of deploying any kind of design-related tool on a mobile platform.
I completely agree with Alex about the user interface problem on mobile devices (as well as other devices). They all suck, as far as I'm concerned. Apple's Mac keyboards on their laptops, at least the older models, are actually pretty darn good, and their touchpads are superb, especially compared to those on Windows machines. But a keyboard's not always what's needed. You don't have to have lousy vision, fat fingers, or be older than 15 to hate texting or soft keyboards. I'm not fond of talking to machines--except for yelling at them when their software malfunctions--but Siri sounds promising.
Good points Brad, but there is one other thing: Am I the only one out here who wants the ability to turn out the office light and go home at the end of the day without having the pressures of work having the ability to follow where ever I am?
You see mobile apps, I see a never ending work day. It is already bad enough that I find myself finishing designs in my head at 3 am, I really do not need the ability to feel obligated to actually, get up and go to work in my kitchen.
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